provides rich textual information of a lexical item. With the use of corpus, it is easy to understand variability of word usage based on textual information.
To summarize, Biber, Conrad and Reppen 2002 point out four basic characteristics of corpus based approach in the study of language aspects. First,
corpus based analysis is empirical. The study analyses the actual patterns of use in natural texts. The focus here is on studying the use of language characteristics by
considering appropriate association patterns. Second, it utilizes a large and principled collection of natural texts known as „corpus‟ as the basis for analysis.
Third, it makes extensive use of computer for analysis, using both automatic and interactive techniques. Lastly, corpus based approach depends on both qualitative
and quantitative analytical techniques. Quantitative involves the counts of linguistics features whereas qualitative is concerned with functional interpretation
of the identified quantitative patterns. The qualitative explanation helps to explore the importance of such findings for learning about patterns of language use. Thus,
the definition of corpus in this research is a collection text in written form and stored in electronic form. Then, it provides frequency data which later can be
analyzed.
B. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Course books become one of the most powerful tools in learning English. The existence of a course book seems to be a must for both teachers and learners.
Some teachers rely on a course book since it provides a lot of materials to teach. Teachers making their own teaching materials, those who do not use any course
book in their classroom, are seen less ‘reliable’ and ‘trusted’ than those who use a
course book . Learners also feel more ‘secure’ if they have a course book and use
them in their language learning classroom. Dealing with education and its goals, we cannot separated it with
curriculum. The curriculum is a means to achieve educational goals, as well as guidance in the implementation of education. The curriculum reflects the
philosophy of life of the nation, in which direction and how it shapes the lives of the future will be determined by the curriculum used by the nations social now.
Indonesia has already implemented educational curricula known several times. The two latest types of curriculum, Curriculum 2006 and 2013 are still being used
nowadays. The National Department of Education allow letting many well-known
publishers and authors to provide good English course books and ready to be sold in the market. However, the government also provides electronic books, called
BSE Buku Sekolah Elektronik. People can download the ready printed material and make copies for any purpose. Through many changes of curricula, the
government hopes that they can provide cheaper and better quality content of course books for Indonesian teachers and students. However, government need to
maintain the quality of education by providing and evaluating course books which can adapt to the changing development and on-going.
One of the important aspects that may define whether an English course books is good or bad, will be depends on vocabulary items which are used in it.
Vocabulary itself plays an important role in language learning. As the result, vocabulary coverage of a course book becomes one consideration in course book
selection. Vocabulary takes an essential part in language learning since the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
meaning of language lies in the meaning of the vocabulary items as the key elements, which affect comprehensibility. Having comprehension of vocabulary,
learners would be able to acquire language Krashen and Terrell, 1995. Based on 1994 curriculum, at the Junior High level, the objective is that by
the end of the program, the students will have developed English language skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing in thematic situations in accordance
with their individual developmental levels and interests, using 1,000 word-level and appropriate structures Depdikbud, 1994b, and the objective at the Senior
High level is that by the end of the program, the students will have developed English language skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing in thematic
situations in accordance with their individual developmental levels and interests, using 2,500 word-level and appropriate structures Depdikbud, 1994a. Thus, it is
assumed that Junior High students in the first grade will acquire at least 500 words GSL500, additional 300 words for the second grade GSL800, and extra 200
words for the third grade GSL1000. Assessing whether a course book provides enough vocabulary or not
become essential for users. We can count the number of words provided in a course book. We have to count the words which consist of type, token and word
family. Those words are used and recycled in different context. We can measure the students‟ comprehension from the number of token and type. If the number of
token and type are almost the same, it means that the vocabulary items are various. However, if the number of token is far from the number of type, it means
that the vocabulary items are repeated frequently. Actually ten-time repetitions should bring enough effect on students Coady and Nation, 1988.
Word family is also needed in order to introduce new words and enrich the students
’ vocabulary. It will help the students to learn words in different contexts. It should be one level above their current language competence. A course book
should contain a number of word types which are recycled throughout different contexts. It aims to introduce new word types and make learners familiar with
them. However, the number of word types should also be appropriate to support language acquisition and to avoid learners from having burden. Moreover, the
level of difficulty needs to be appropriate with students’ level. By using corpora based program from Nation, and Bauman and Culligan,
we are able to know how frequently the course book co-occurs, how many words provided in the course book, and how far the vocabulary will suitable for Junior
High School learners. Corpus can b e a source of ‘natural’ data; that is useful in
defining evidently which forms are most frequently used in what aspect. Corpora provide rich textual information of a lexical item. It can show variability of word
usage based on textual information. Therefore, the data results will be able to answer the research questions as being formulated in chapter I.
46
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter is aimed to ensure the validity of the empirical truth, It will describe the methodology and procedures applied on this research. This chapter
starts with the research method. Next, it describes about nature of data. After that, it directly discusses data analysis. Since this research analyzes course books, it
does not need to provide research setting and respondents. Moreover, data source and data collection are also not needed because the data has been provided in the
course book. The last, it talks about the validation of findings.
A. RESEARCH METHOD
In order to ensure the research method is appropriate to achieve the research goal, this research used corpus as the only data because it aims to look the number
of words and the recycled words in the course book. Conrad 1999 stated that there are three important characteristics of corpus based research. First, corpus
based research uses a principled collection of naturally occurring texts. Second characteristic is that corpus based research use computer to analyze. In this kind
of research, it will not be feasible to analyze the corpora or many complex features without computer. However, in some cases, it needs human judgments
when the features are ambiguous. Third characteristic is that corpus based research include both quantitative analyses and functional interpretation of
language use qualitative. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
